Creative solutions.

I have pretty decent skin. More often than not, I've gotten comments that I'm "glowing" and I've "never looked better" now that I'm pregnant. Which is a bit strange, I think. I look better when I look like I'm smuggling a beach ball than before I was pregnant? Strange. However, I can admit that my skin is pretty decent, and has served me well thus far in life. I never had (bad) acne as a teenager. My only complaints have been that my skin is dry around my nose from time to time. Nothing to complain about, I know. But since getting pregnant, my skin is often unpredictable. I cry at least once a day so I'm often splotchy. My hormones are whack, so oil production is on overdrive. As a result, I've had more problems with my skin in the past 8 months than I have my entire life. Oh yeah, it's super fun.
Now, to take care of this acne, it's hard to determine what to do. I can't use any kind of acne cream or wash, so this is my new regime: garnier make-up remover and cleansing towelettes, St. Ives Fresh skin collagen-elastin facial moisturizer, toothpaste, and A & D Diaper rash ointment. Yes, yes. Strange, I know. The garnier towelettes are awesome for traveling and at night when I don't want to dry out my skin, but I need to take off make-up and leave my skin feeling like it can breathe. (If I don't take off the make-up, I break out like mad.)
The St. Ives moisturizer is light and smells good without having a lot of fragrance, and I can use it every day. I even use it on my belly because it really stops my skin from itching as it's stretching.
Toothpaste. Took you by surprise didn't I? Well, since I can't use any normal acne creams, I use toothpaste. I put some on a blemish before going to bed, and I wake up and it's all dried out. When I get a blemish, it lasts for about two weeks, and all except the first couple of days are just a dry sore.
That's where the A&D ointment comes in. It's light enough to not make me break out even more, and heavy enough to stay on my skin and heal the blemish.
Weird, I know. But it works really well for me! :)


The big thing I'm dealing with on a day-to-day basis are stretch marks. I have a few little ones around my belly button (which has yet to pop) that are small and not very dark, so I'm hoping they will fade after baby and my skin will return to normal. I always put on a combination of cocoa butter, oil, and lotion every morning when I wake up and right before I go to bed. As well as every time I get all itchy. It's working pretty well so far, and hopefully it keeps the stretch marks at bay!